


The War's Not Ended

by LSims



Series: Parenthood is a Battle (But I'm Willing to Fight it) [3]
Category: Bandstand - Oberacker/Oberacker & Taylor
Genre: Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:35:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25017871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LSims/pseuds/LSims
Summary: Donny confronts his prejudices and the world when Sara admits she's being bullied at school.
Relationships: Donny Novitski/Julia Trojan
Series: Parenthood is a Battle (But I'm Willing to Fight it) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1811341
Kudos: 13





	The War's Not Ended

For Donny and Julia Trojan-Novitski, they'd dreamed of their daughter's first of school. For Sara Trojan-Novitski, she'd had nightmares about it. 

She slumped down in the back seat of the car and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach as her mom and dad rambled on happily. 

"Are you _sure_ you don't want us to walk in?" Julia asked.

"Yes, I'm positive," Sara answered. "Being walked in is for babies."

Donny and Julia exchanged a look and Sara sighed. Didn't they know they'd make it worse? She was already gonna get stared at for her face, and having her _famous_ parents there would only add to the humiliation. 

Suddenly Sara looked up and shot up in her seat, shrieking "Stop the car!"

Donny slammed on the brakes and looked at Sara in alarm. "What's the matter?"

"I'm gonna get out now."

"Here?" Julia questioned. "But we're still three blocks from the school?"

"I wanna walk."

"Sara, we won't walk you in, but you can at least let us drive you to the front steps."

"No, really, Mom. I'm good."

Donny and Julia exchanged another look and Julia sighed. "Well, alright. We _will_ be picking you up _at_ school, okay?"

"Okay."

"Have a good day!" Her parents called as Sara climbed out. She waved and started on her death march.

She could feel their glares before she could even see the school. Sara kept her head down and trudged on, gritting her teeth as the whispers started. She kept her focus on the schoolhouse in front of her as she walked. She'd just approached the steps when she suddenly tripped and went flying towards the steps. Sara shrieked and put her hands out to break her fall. She looked up and found herself face-to-face with the perpetrator. He had a round, slightly red face and a blonde crew cut. He was laughing. 

"That's what you get, Jap." He said, before spitting on her and walking away laughing. 

She blushed furiously, brushed the dirt off her hands, and stalked off to class, laughter echoing in her ears. 

Sara entered Mrs. Plymouth's classroom. There were 17 desks, and, judging by the placards, arranged in alphabetical order. Scanning the room, she found hers. Second row from the back. Having a last name that started with "T" paid off. 

Her desk was in the far left aisle. A blonde girl was sitting in front of her desk. Sara would have to pass her to get to her desk. She sighed.

The blonde g, girl looked up and her eyes widened when she saw Sara. They then narrowed as Sara took her seat behind her. 

"What are _you_ doing?" She snapped.

"Sitting in my seat," Sara responded, her voice barely above a whisper. 

The girl looked down at Sara's placard, humphed, and raised her hand. 

"Yes, Cecelia?" Mrs. Plymouth asked.

"I can't sit here, Mrs. Plymouth."

"And why ever not?"

"Because _she's_ sitting there, ma'am."

Mrs. Plymouth sighed. "Cecelia, I put an awful lot of work into arranging these seats into alphabetical order."

"My brother _died_ in the Pacific!" Cecelia shrieked. "He was starved to death in a Jap POW camp! If I sit near a Jap, that's disrespecting his memory!"

Mrs. Plymouth sighed again. "Alright Cecelia, let's wait until the rest of the class gets seated, and then I'll let you chose your seats, alright?"

Sara took out her book and hid her face in it. This was going to be a _long_ year.

Of course, it went on. There were the snickers, the name-calling, and the notes left in her desk. People were always forced to be her partner, and sometimes she didn't have a partner at all. Most teachers graded her the same as everyone else, but she _knew_ that she was failing math because Mrs. Byers hated the Japanese. Nearly all of the teachers turned a blind eye to the bullying and the ones who _did_ report it, well, Sara was usually the one who got punished.

One November afternoon Sara came home in a viscously bad mood. She tried to focus on her math homework but ended up crumpling it up and throwing it against the wall with a scream of frustration. What was the point of doing it anyway? Mrs. Byers was just gonna fail her anyway. She was still mad about what had happened during study hall.

Sara had been curled up in a small corner of the library, working on her book report. Howard Stills and his cronies were sitting at a table not far from her, gossiping.

"You know, I never thought that _Donny_ _Nova_ would be a Jap lover." He said. 

Sara kept her eyes on her paper, but she perked her ears up at the mention of her father. 

"Yeah, didn't he have a friend who died in the Pacific or something?" Margaret Milton asked.

"Yeah, I think so. I still can't see _why_ he'd adopt that stupid Jap."

"Maybe it's a publicity stunt?"

"You know what _I_ think it is?" Cecelia, the girl who'd sat in front of Sara on the first day, said.

"What?"

" _I_ think he took her in for revenge."

"What do you mean, revenge?"

"He and Julia took her in as revenge for the murder of his friend. They're gonna take her in, make her feel all warm and happy, and trusting, and then they're gonna _destroy her life_. "

"How?", 

"They're gonna wake up one morning and without any preparation, take her back to the orphanage. When she asks why they're gonna blame it on every little dirty secret she has. They are gonna make her feel like _such_ a worthless piece of shit, and she's gonna have to live with it the rest of her life."

Sara couldn't take it anymore. She got up, slammed her book shut, and ran out of the library. As she left, Howard called out "You're gonna get what's coming to you, you yellow-faced bitch!"

Sara cried as she thought about it. A knock on her door spurred her from her thoughts. "

"Sara? Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," She mumbled, wiping away her tears, "I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine."

"Go away." 

Her door opened and Donny walked in. 

"Go away." She repeated.

"Sara, what's going on? You don't normally act like this."

"I said--" Sara stopped and then looked at her father with wild eyes. "Why did you adopt me?"

"What?"

" _Why_ did you adopt me?"

"Because your mother and I wanted you in our lives."

Sara scoffed. "Really, why?"

"It's true, we _do_ want you in our lives. We love you. _I_ love you more than I hate Sinatra."

Sara smiled but then sighed. "Is it true that you fought in the Pacific during the war?"

"Yes."

"So you fought the Japs?"

"Yes, I fought the Japanese. Sara, has someone said something to you at school?"

"Oh yeah," She snarked. "They say a _lot_ of things."

She then confessed everything. The bullying, the teachers, the truth behind all her detentions, and the conversation in the library.

Dogonnanny sighed, sat beside Sara on her bed, and rubbed circles on her back. "People are assholes."

"Yeah, they are."

"And it's _not_ true, what they said. Michael wasn't murdered, and we _certainly_ didn't adopt you as revenge. If anything, Michael would have wanted us to adopt you."

Sara looked up at Donny. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"How'd he die, then?" Sara asked. 

"He...it was an accident. It was raining, I dropped the grenade."

"Oh," Sara said. Then she looked at her dad with wide eyes and said " _Oh_." 

"Yeah, _oh_."

"I know the Japanese Government did some bad things, but so did this government," Sara said. "You know, I'm not originally from Ohio."

"Oh?"

"No. I'm from San Fransisco. And then Pearl Habor happened, and Roosevelt ordered all of us on the West Coast into the camps. My mom and I were sent to Manzanar. My dad had been communicating with my grandparents in Japan, and the government said he was collaborating with the Japanese government. He was sent to a prison camp. He was stupid enough to try and escape, and he died of a heart attack in the stockade. My mom and I moved out here after we were all released, but she got weak in Manzanar and got sick and died. So I got sent to the orphanage."

Donny hugged Sara tightly. "God honey, I'm so sorry. You're right, how we treated you _was_ wrong."

He looked at her. "I'm not gonna lie, I _did_ have doubts when I first heard about you. But then I met you and realized just how stupid I'd been. The war was long and hard and brought a lot of people pain. But it is _not_ an excuse to treat you like that, and you're teachers, who are grown adults, should be ashamed of how they are acting. You are a bright, talented, funny, _amazing_ young woman and they should be _proud_ to know you. I _will_ be speaking to them about it. And Sara?"

She looked at him.

"The next time one of those kids says something, you tell me, and I'll go kick their asses."

Sara laughed as Julia walked in. "Donald Tristano Novitski, you will _not_ be kicking their butts, because I'll do it for you."

Sara doubled over at hearing Donny's full name, and Donny balked at his wife. "Who are you and what have you done with Julia?"

They all laughed and Julia shook her purse. "Come on, let's go get ice cream. You deserve it, Sara."

"Before dinner?"

"Before dinner."

As they walked down the street, Donny said. "We love you, Sara. And we'll make sure the world knows it."

She licked her cone and smiled. "I know." 


End file.
